Whittled Away
by breaking ground
Summary: One-Shot.  A dark tale of loss, sadness and death.


It was a dark night a storm raged overhead, the clouds being rent in two by lances of white hot electricity. They were tired, but the night had just begun.

"Come on Jason, we've got to get inside" Mark was worried, his sister Grace had taken a bad hit from one of the infected and unless they got to a safe house quickly to patch her up she'd only hinder their survival efforts. There had been five of them, Mark, Grace, Jason, Kate and William, but in their haste Will had set off a car alarm which alerted every infected being in a four block radius. As the creatures mistakenly known as zombies swarmed them Kate was pulled away by a smoker, and dragged through the horde, Will then pushed after her and was lost in the crowd. Using a Molotov cocktail Mark had cut the horde off from the street they escaped down, leaving Will and Kate to their unknown fate.

Hurrying into a multi storey car park, the remaining three didn't notice the creature watching them, for they had passed onto his land and they would pay in blood.

._.

It was dark inside, whatever lights did work albeit flicker gave enough illumination to see by.

"Are we ever going to be safe"? asked Grace, her voice not giving away her injury but her pale face made it obvious.

"I don't know, I just don't known" replied Mark

"when I get through this I'll be looking forward to an ice cold beer and a house that doesn't have to be 'safe' to be liveable" said Jason

"guys, do you hear that"? urgently asked Grace.

The two men came to halt and in unison held their breath listening intently all that was heard was the trios shallow breathing, until another sound made itself clear. Footsteps, like that of an elephant but only one monstrous being made such lumbering footsteps. William had once compared them to zombiefied hulks and that was the best description yet.

Jason was the quickest of them and gave the warning "RUN". the beast came charging around the corner smashing through pillars and cars to get to its quarry, the tank would not stop until it or its prey was dead.

"Mark, Grace get to the stairwell" shouted Jason, they had just made it into the doorway when a almighty roar was heard. Jason turned and beheld the tank lifting a car and hurling it at them, time seemed to slow as he gave a roar of his own and pushed the siblings through the doorway.

The car hit the doorway and parts of the metal frame were embedded in the wall, "go on without me" whispered their friend as he ran away, back to the open street firing his rifle at the tank to lure it away.

._.

After ten minutes of quiet mourning Grace looked up at her brother, his fists bloody and bruised from punching the car, the wall, the floor. Laying her hand on Marks shoulder "we can't stay here it's not safe"

"you're right there's nothing more we can do Jase gave us a chance to reach safety, lets not waste that" Mark sighed "I just…." he shook his head, "lets just go".

._.

Neither of them had said a word in the time it took to get to the safe house, the cherry red reinforced door acting as a beacon to them. As soon as the door was bolted Grace collapsed in the center of the room.

"GRACE, no no no, don't do this on me, I'm sorry I forgot about you, please don't die you're all I have left…" the rest of his words transforming into sobs and calls to his sister. Blood started to seep from the bandaged wound on her back, and Grace gave her final breath.

Hours later the body was wrapped in any blankets Mark could find. He carried the corpse to a spot in an alleyway and set it alight, so nothing could defile the body. Going back to the safe house Mark threw himself against a wall, sank to the ground and relapsed into cries on agony. In his grief he didn't notice the armour plated door open until it was to late, the hooded creature shrieked and pounced on the broken human.

As the hunter began ripping his entrails open Marks mind brought him back to the point where this tragedy began. _William had shot a car causing the alarm to alert a horde. Just as their hellish screams reached the ears of the group Kate, ever being the pessimist muttered a grim prophecy._

"This won't end well_"_**.**


End file.
